820 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



The Dartmoor and Exmoor sheep may be taken as samples of the 



breeds of the older forests, commons, and chases. They frequently 

 have dark or gray faces and limbs, and may be with or without horns, while their 

 size is small. The two races mentioned differ from the others in having wool of 

 medium length, instead of extreme shortness. 



The well-known Southdown breed, derived from the chalk hills of 



Sussex, are characterized by the absence of horns, their dark brown 

 faces, ears, and limbs, and their short felting wool. Their size and weight are sub- 

 ject to local variation, but their heads are always comparatively small, their 

 lower jaws thin and fine, and the space between their ears well covered with wool. 

 A good Southdown carries more meat in proportion to offal than does any other of 

 the short-wooled varieties. 



The Dorset and pink-nosed Somerset breed, are indigenous to the 



southwest of England, and are easily recognized by their long limbs, 

 the presence of horns in both sexes, and their white limbs and faces, the muzzle be- 

 ing often flesh-colored. The wool is of medium length, and the lambs are produced 

 unusually early. There is a variety of the Dorset breed in Dean forest and on the 

 Mendip hills, small, compact animals that thrive on the poorest soil. The Port- 

 land sheep are an allied but smaller breed. 



The small merino sheep, in which the males have long spiral horns 



while the females are usually hornless, may have either white or gray 

 faces and limbs, and are distinguished from all other breeds by the great length and 

 fineness of their wool. Originally a native of Spain, the breed has spread over many 

 parts of Europe, and has been introduced into South Africa, America, and Aus- 

 tralia; but, for several reasons, has not found much favor with English farmers. 



Finally, we have the various strains of long-wooled sheep, under 

 Breeds which heading are comprised the new Leicester, and the varieties 



more or less intermixed with it in blood, such as the Lincolnshire, the 

 Romney Marsh, the Cotswold, the Devonshire, the Notts, and the long-wooled Irish 

 breeds. They are all of large size, destitute of horns in both sexes, and bear long 

 wool, which, while unsuitable for felting, is eminently adapted for the manufacture 

 of worsted yarn. These sheep are stated by Mr. Low to be " more especially 

 adapted to the plains and the districts where artificial food can be reared in the nec- 

 essary quantity. They have been continually increasing in number with the exten- 

 sion of tillage and the general improvement of agriculture. Of the several varieties 

 the new Leicester breed occupies the first class with respect to form, and the apti- 

 tude to fatten readily. ' ' 



THE BHARAL (Ovis' nahura) 



With tne bharal, or blue sheep of Tibet, we come to the first of two wild 

 species differing markedly from all the others in the characteristics of their horns 

 and skulls, and approximating in these respects to the goats. As regards the horns, 

 the male bharal has these appendages nearly smooth, and rounded or subquadrangu- 

 lar at the base, while their curvature assimilates more to a letter S than to the spiral 



